Metaphor-Themed Studies in Social Studies Education in Turkey and Their Evaluations in Terms of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT)

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to examine postgraduate theses and published articles on "analysis of metaphorically used words in discourse" in the field of social studies education in Turkey by document analysis method. Within the scope of the research, The National Thesis Center and Dergipark databases were surveyed. The survey revealed 22 completed theses and 39 published articles between the years of 2010 and 2022. First, the studies were analysed in terms of the study/publication year of the works, the universities where they were conducted, their sample/study groups, the methodological framework they were based on, their data collection tool, the expertise of the researchers and thesis advisors, and the metaphors that were the subject of the research. The works were subsequently evaluated in terms of CMT (Conceptual Metaphor Theory) and were subjected to five research questions. This evaluation revealed that the studies examined: (i) do not establish a relationship between their research findings and the theoretical framework of CMT although they view metaphors as products of conceptual thinking; (ii) do not benefit adequately from the essential references or seminal works of CMT; (iii) do not align themselves with a particular theory of metaphor or an approach, and, therefore, lack criteria for how they associate metaphor with thought; (iv) do not make explicit the criteria according to which they classified the statement of participants as metaphorical; and (v) try to reach the data suited to their research purpose with a data collection tool coded as "A is X like or as B", which is a coding scheme that is conventionally identified as a simile rather than a conceptual metaphor among CMT adherents.